Posted on 07/28/2007 6:00:30 PM PDT by blam
1m-years-old footprints found at Margalla Hills
By Sher Baz Khan
ISLAMABAD, July 27: In what appears to be a major discovery, archaeologists have found two over one million years old human footprints preserved on a sandstone at the Margalla Hills.
The Indusians Research Cell, which is working under the supervision of world renowned archaeologist and historian Dr Ahmad Hassan Dani of Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, has made the discovery, which is likely to add a new chapter to the archaeological history and heritage of the federal capital and attract visitors.
A footprint of 1 feet is in complete and well preserved form while another is broken from the finger side which is also of the same size in comparative manner. The notable marks of the feet are the clear veins and opposite folded appearance.
“A huge stone on the top of the hill is the secure home of these prints since about over one million years ago,” says A.K. Azad, an archaeologist and head of the project.
Further research may give more clues of the foot marks through anthropological and geophysical methods, he observed.
The recent discovery is the continuity of the Indusian Research Cell’s earlier research about human evolution which previously revealed a fossilised upper jaw from the site of Dhudhumber, foot and hand prints from Attock and Palaeolithic cave from Margalla hills.
Pakistan’s geomorphologic research was conducted to compare with the Alps of Europe during the period of 1930-1939 by a French mission. Since then, lots of other dimensions of the research opened the doors of scientific research in Pakistan as the country provided the glacial sequence, fossilised evidences of Pre-Cambrian to Holocene epochs, earliest evidences of the anthropoid existence, earliest cultural centre at Mehargarh (contemporary of Jericho and Jarmo) and most advanced civilisation of the world (Indus valley).
Indusians Research Cell started the second phase of the project “Post-earthquake Explorations of Human Remains in Margalla Hills” under the supervision of A.K. Azad.
According to Mr Azad the formation of the Margalla Hills goes back to the Miocene epoch. The dominant limestone of the Margalla is also mixed with the sand stone.
“So we can assume that due to availability of the water in ancient times many marks of the zoological as well botanical significance may lead to our objectives,” the young archaeologist hopes.
In 1976, Pakistan opened another chapter of human evolution, which makes case for Asian anthropoid origin from this region.
During the ‘60s and ‘70s, Pilbeam led expeditions to the Siwalik Hills badlands of northern Pakistan, searching for further Ramapithecine remains.
In March 1975 and January 1976 team members made surface recoveries of four bone fragments which fit together to form the most complete mandible recovered yet. The mandible shows that Ramapithecus did not have a parabolic, human like dental arcade, as originally thought, but rather a V-shaped, more apelike arcade. Though the shape of the arcade is not now regarded as one of the more anatomically important characters, Ramapithecus is no longer granted the high status that it once received.
Different scholars have defined the word ‘Potohar’ differently. But, anthropological research marked it, as the grand father of hominid, also known as Punjabicus found from the Potohar region.
So the government of Pakistan had given the name to this specie Potoharmans.
According to Mr Azad, the problem of human evolution is still hanging around that when and where Anthropoid got physical changes from the Apes?
After India, Kenya and China, he says important discovery was from the Potohar region from fossils of the similar species found in 1976 and 1982. The probable dating given to this specie was 20 million years.
“It has provided a missing link, which was spread of 6 million years. So Potoharmans declared as the grand father of hominid, which evolved from the different stages and reached at the Homo sapiens,” he observes.
The stories behind the similar marks are also significant in mythical associations with saints and renowned people i.e. hand prints of the Baba Guru Nanik near Hassanabdal, foot prints of Hazrat Ali in Hyderabad, foot prints of the Guru Padma Sambhava (Second reincarnation of Buddha) in Swat, Adam’s peak of Sri Lanka etc.
“If these are true than we can also claim of the mother Eve’s foot prints from Margalla Hills,” Mr Azad observed.
p.s.: To allege that Einstein was a positivist is patently absurd, especially in light of your acknowledgement of Spinoza and Schopenhauer as his main philosophical lights. (The latter regarded the universe as fundamentally irrational.)
Gautama Buddha was a Hindu.. and modified his "karma"..
Karma smarma, Hinduism is load for dung beetles..
Buddhism(and denominations) are/is refined Hinduism..
Fair is fair. After all, didn't Darwin say, "Life comes form life"?
form=from
What does that tautology have to do with the price of tea in China?
I’m just a fly on the wall.
Would you say that in Buddhist thought, water is the fundament of life sine qua non? That would seem to fit well with what I understand of Buddhist philosophy. Water "flows," as does the stream of Life.
Christian philosophy, in contrast, considers Light to be the fundament sine qua non....
Actually it was just another of BB's inaccuracies.
And the second sentence was her delightfully amusing opinion ("I gather") mocking the implication of mental weakness with eloquence per se. Q.E.D.
What I think we had going on here is this: b-sharp and I both generally agree on what constitutes relevant evidence; we just disagree about how it is to be interpreted.
Thanks so very much for writing!
1 Corinthians 2:9 only refers to what God has prepared for those who love him, which, presumably isn't Hell.
Ephesians 4:7-9 says Hell is an actual place, located in the "lower, earthly regions" (also translated as the depths of the earth). Matthew 12:40 says the same: "in the heart of the earth."
Matthew 13:42 says Hell is a "fiery furnace" which will cause "weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:41 says it is a place of "eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Mark 9:43-48 says Hell is a place "where the fire never goes out," and "the fire is not quenched." Luke 16:24 quotes a rich man in Hell as pleading to Abraham, "cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." Revelation 20:13-15 says Hell contains or is a "lake of fire." Revelation 21:8 describes that lake as a "fiery lake of burning sulfur."
Revelation 14:9-10 quotes an angel as declaring that anyone who "worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand... will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb" (so angels and Jesus will either observe the torture or participate).
What is metaphorical about this?
Bulletproof Monk starring Chow Yun-Fat!
That would be my take on the use of water's characteristics as a tool of instruction in Buddhist meditation. It isn't a description of the building blocks of creation it is just a convenient tool to help the meditator settle down and 'get over himself.' I, personally, have never been instructed with that kind of illustration. I think that may be more of a Zen approach although it would be a valid instruction in any school. It is not at all particular to Buddhism however as every tradition that teaches the calming and observation of mind has used the movement of water as a metaphor. I am not familiar with the broad expanse of Christian writings but I would be very surprised if Christian contemplatives had never used the movement of water to describe their experiences in quietude. It is just the closest physical phenomena, that everyone can relate to, that corresponds to the behavior of mind.
The Buddhist view is that light is the most fundamental essence of all phenomena that can be grasped by the mind but that the ultimate nature of everything is beyond conception. The view is that no metaphor, or thought of any kind, can ever truly express the true nature of reality. It is beyond even mind which itself is seen as a created phenomenal form whose most subtle essence is light. But it is said that the true nature of reality can be experienced.
That is why the ultimate nature of existence cannot be 'discovered' or investigated with science. It may be experienced and 'known' by that experience but there is no way to share that experience which is something science, by its nature, demands. I think that accords very well with Einstein's observation that there are some things that are beyond rationality that science cannot address. The literalist might then say "If it's not rational then it can't exist. It doesn't exist." But that statement itself is not a well reasoned or adequately examined thought. To say that something is beyond rationality is not the same as saying it is irrational. It simply means that some things are beyond the grasp of intellect, that intellect is limited in its ability to experience or understand or 'know.' In fact a Buddhist would say that it is not the intellect that does the experiencing, the understanding and the 'knowing.' It's just the part that gathers, sorts and collates data. Both Einstein and Buddha would say "Intellect is not the sum-total of mind." Those who think intellect (which manifests as reason) is the highest, grandest thing that exists can't see that and won't agree.
All of it.... You got yer megaphors, macrophors, microphors, and even miniphors.. and you have your literal.. But sometimes the literal can be metaphorical also..
Suggest thinking more deeply on this subject.. If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not metaphorical (to you) you are smoking some pretty strong stuff..
That's it! I knew if I described it a FReeper would come to my rescue. Thanks, GSC. I looked through a list of a 100+ martial arts movies I Googled to try and kick start my memory but it wasn't in there.
It's a little campy I suppose but it is done with pretty good style IMO. Classic bad guys, a mentor/apprentice relationship with the tensions of a reluctant apprentice, a love interest for him who is his equal on the hop-and-chop stage and pretty good production values with relatively believable martial arts moves. Relative to the current genre of metaphysical martial arts anyway. Plenty of action. I like Chow Yun-Fat. He's not as flashy or sexy as Jet Li but he's 'likeable.' To me.
I'll give it four out of five stars. ;^)
comment:
Very interesting....1,000,000 years old and nothing has much changed in all that time except Pakistan is Muslim and has an atomic bomb...great work...duh.
You have never apologised for misquoting Darwin, so why should you ask for an apology from someone else.
I have no recollection of you supporting a 6000 year old earth, but then I have never seen you openly contradict anyone who does. In fact, I see you frequently expressing solidarity with people who argue against an old earth.
I have also seen you within the last week questioning whether the scientific jury is out on the issue of a global flood.
Ohhhhhhh, don't we all? lol ; )
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